The shock of discovering a surprisingly inflated mobile phone bill after travelling abroad within the EU should be a thing of the past from now on.<br /><br /> Dramatic reductions in controversial roaming charges imposed by operators came into effect on Saturday.<br /><br /> It follows a nine-year campaign by the European Commission to tackle excessive charges and should bring large savings for consumers.<br /><br /> The new rules cap the extra charges that operators can impose on travellers from other EU countries. <br />Roaming surcharges are now limited to:<br /><br /> <br /> 0.05€ extra per minute for outgoing calls<br /> 0.0114€ extra per minute for incoming calls<br /> 0.02€ extra per text message sent<br /> <br /> <br /> 0.05€ extra per Megabyte of data downloaded<br /> <br /><br /> The changes are expected to bring roaming charges down by at least a third. The biggest reductions are expected to be for consumers downloading data – photos, emails and social media.<br /><br /> These are just interim measures: the surcharges are due to be abolished altogether from June next year.
